Feeding laps to pickers



April 24, 1934. E. KOELLA FEEDING LAPS TO PICKERS Filed May 25, 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN V EN TOR.

A TTORNEY April 24, 1934. JE. KOELLA FEEDING LAPS TO PICKERS Filed May 25, 1932 III] w.

3 Sheets-Sheet 2 6 f i fiNVEN OR.

ATTORNEY April 24, 1934. E. KOELLA 1,956,446

FEEDING LAPS TO PICKERS Filed May 25, 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 IN V EN TOR.

A TTORNEY Patented Apr. 24, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE This invention relates to an improvement in feeding breaker laps onto the aprons of intermediate or finisher pickers.

The laps made by the breaker pickers are usually removed therefrom and feed onto the aprons of intermediate or finisher pickers, there being about four laps arranged to feed onto each apron of the picker, the fleece from the laps feeding from the laps in super-imposed relation. The laps are arranged crosswise of the apron and above the same at intervals throughout its length, and the practice heretofore has been to feed from all of these laps in the same direction so that corresponding ends of the laps are arranged on the same side of the feed apron of the picker.

The laps made by breaker pickers very often have more or less thin and heavy places which defects are made by the fan draft of the picker which result in the lap of the breaker picker being quite often somewhat larger on one edge than on the other. Instead of the lap being entirely cylindrical in form, it will result in a lap somewhat frustro-conical in shape. When these conical laps are fed behind each other onto the apron of the intermediate or finisher picker with corresponding ends on the same side of the apron, the lap of the finisher will show that defect also by being somewhat heavier on one edge than on the other.

To overcome this serious defect, I reverse one or two of the laps relative to the other one or two and utilize feed rolls thereunder. Although the fleece from the reversed laps is unwound in the opposite direction from that of the normally disposed laps, yet it is fed around the feed rolls in order to feed onto the finisher apron in the proper direction, thus being laid on top of the fleece of the normal laps to feed with that into the intermediate or finisher picker.

I have tested this principle out in a mill over an extended period and have found that it makes a considerable improvement in the carding and spinning, especially in the cleanliness on the card and the eventual evenness in the yarn.

In the accompanying drawings,

Fig. l is a sectional view through a finisher of typical form and showing my invention applied to the feeding of the laps thereto;

Fig. la is a plan view of two laps, one normal and one reversed;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged side elevation of the feeding end of the finisher showing the manner of driving the feed rolls; and

Fig. 3 is a top plan view thereof.

I have shown in Fig. 1 a typical form of finisher to illustrate my improvement in feeding of the laps and which has the usual beater, cleaning ribs, fan, screens and rolls and other elements essential to such a device. This finisher is represented generally by the character A.

For the purpose of feeding laps to the finisher or intermediate picker, an apron B is employed which travels over rollers B1, at least some of which may be driven.

The laps are designated C and C1. These are formed on a breaker picker and due to defects in the operation of the later are often somewhat conical, being larger at one end than at the other but the laps formed on any particular picker will be enlarged at corresponding ends, and if these are fed directly onto the apron B, one behind another, all feeding in the same direction, the fieece fed to the finisher will be thicker at one edge than at the other. However, in my invention I have reversed end for end some of the laps as designated C1, so that they feed from their spindles C3, in directions opposite to the direction of feed of the normal laps C, which have not been reversed. In order that all of these may feed onto the apron B, in a proper manner, I have inserted feed rolls, D, under the reversed laps C1, which feed rolls D are shown as driven by belts D1 and D2, from a driven part of the finisher as represented in Figs} 2 and 3.

The fieece from the reversed laps C1, feeds in a direction from the under edges thereof, facing away from the finisher and is carried around the feed rolls D, as represented in Figs. 1 and 2, onto the apron B on top of the fleece from the normal laps C, in the arrangement illustrated in the drawings and following with the latter into the finisher in the proper manner.

This reversal of the laps feeds the fleece from some of them in one direction opposite to the direction of feeding from the others and has the enlarged ends of the reversed laps at the opposite side of the apron from the normal laps which compensates for unevenness in the laps and produces a finisher lap which is even and uniform.

I have found from use of this manner of feed of the laps that it results in a very substantial improvement in the carding and spinning, as to cleanliness on the card and eventual evenness in the yarn.

While I have shown two of the laps reversed 0 and two in their normal positions, yet the invention is not restricted to such an arrangement for the number may be varied or the arrangement varied as found desirable, having the reversed laps at either end of the apron or intermediate the normal laps or having them arranged alternately, as found desirable. Also while I have illustrated and described the invention in connection with the finisher picker, yet it is equally applicable to an intermediate picker or it may be used in the feeding of laps on cards.

I claim as my invention,

1. In a picker the combination with cleaning means, of a plurality of laps each of which has larger and smaller ends, said laps being arranged with the larger ends of some of them on the same side as the smaller ends of others, and means for feeding the fleece from said laps to the picker.

2. In a picker of the character described, the combination with cleaning means, of a plurality of laps each of which is approximately frustroconical having larger and smaller ends, means for feeding the fleece from said laps to the picker, the larger ends of some of the laps and the smaller ends of the other laps being arranged at a corresponding side of said feeding means.

3. In a picker of the character described, the combination with cleaning means, of a plurality of laps each of which is approximately frustroconical having large and small ends, a feed apron arranged for feeding the fleece from said laps in super-imposed relation to the cleaning means, the laps being arranged with the larger ends of half of them at the same side of the feed apron as the small ends of the other half of the laps providing a fleece of uniform thickness being fed to the picker.

4'. In a picker of the character described, the combination with cleaning means, of a plurality of laps each of Which is approximately frustroconical having large and small ends, a feed apron arranged to receive the fleece from the said laps in super-imposed relation and feed the same to the cleaning means, half of the laps being arranged to feed the fleece therefrom in one direction and the other laps being reversed end for end with respect to said flrst-mentioned'half of the laps and feeding the fleece therefrom in the opposite direction.

5. In a picker of the character described, the combination with cleaning means, of a plurality of laps each of which is approximately frustroconical having large and small ends, a feed apron arranged to receive the fleece from the said laps in super-imposed relation and feed the same to the cleaning means, half of the laps being arranged to feed the fleece therefrom in one direction and the other laps being reversed end for end with respect to said first-mentioned half of the laps and feeding the fleece therefrom in the opposite direction, and feed rolls interposed between said reversed laps and directing the fleece therefrom onto the apron.

6. In a picker, the combination of a plurality of wound laps, each of which has larger and smaller end portions, said laps being arranged with the larger end portion of one of them on the same side as the smaller end portion of an- 100 other, and means for feeding the fleece from said laps to the picker.

7. In a picker, the combination of a plurality of wound laps, each of which has larger and smaller end portions, one group of said laps be- 105 ing arranged with the larger ends thereof on the same side as the smaller ends of the other group, one of said groups being turned end for end relative to the other group to facilitate uniformity of fleece fed from the laps, and means for feedllQ ing the fleece from the laps to the picker.

ERNEST KOELLA. 

